What Logcat is useful for
Logcat is Android's logging stream. It can provide useful context when the phone crashes, an app fails, service drops, thermal warnings appear, or a problem occurs only during a specific action.
Capture a session
- Connect and authorize the device.
- Open Live Logcat.
- Click Start capture.
- Reproduce the problem on the phone.
- Use the filter field to narrow visible lines when needed.
- Click Stop when the relevant event has occurred.
- Export the accumulated log to a TXT file.
Useful filter terms
| Filter | Why it may help |
|---|---|
AndroidRuntime | Often relevant to application crashes. |
thermal | May help locate temperature-related messages. |
modem | May help narrow cellular-related output on some devices. |
crash | Broad starting point for crash-related messages. |
Samsung | May help narrow vendor-specific output on Samsung devices. |
Capture tips
- Start the capture shortly before reproducing the problem.
- Record what you were doing and the approximate time of the event.
- Remember that a filter changes what is visible in the window; review the exported accumulated log when deeper analysis is needed.
- Inspect the log before sharing it because logs can contain identifiers or other contextual data.